Byard Lancaster, RIP

Dan DeLuca

Music Critic

Dan DeLuca is an Inquirer pop music critic. But his "In the Mix" column in the Weekend section ventures further afield, into books, movies, TV, the Internet, graphic novels and anything you might call "popular culture."

Byard Lancaster, the prolific Philadelphia jazz saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist known for his avant-garde work in the early 1970s and more recently, his successful battles with SEPTA to be able to play his music on subway concourses, died on Thursday after a battle with cancer. He was 70.

The obituary from Saturday's Inquirer is here. Vibes player Khan Jamal said on Friday: "He was a damn good player. He could do everything. From avant-garde to funk to straight jazz. And in music, you have guys who are takers and guys who were givers. He was a giver."

Below, a day in Lancaster's life in 2008, from the Zion Baptist Church in North Philadelphia to playing the National Anthem at the Sixers game.